Droid DNA: Port and Mic

Pictured above is the port used to charge the phone and transfer data. It has a protective door that's a bit fickle to open and close, and to its right is the mic. Thankfully, the DNA has been equipped with a battery that's capable of being charged wirelessly, so fidgeting with the port isn't something one needs to do too often.

Droid DNA: Power button, headphone jack, and SIM card slot

This is the top of the Droid DNA, where you'll find the power button, SIM card slot, and headphone jack. This edge of the phone is very slightly tilted down, towards the front screen. This makes for added ease of pressing the power button.

Droid DNA: Volume button

On the left-hand side of the picture above, you can see the volume button clearly jutting out from the phone's body. Many have complained about the button being too flush with the body of the phone, but that's simply not the case.

Droid DNA: Rear speaker

The Droid DNA contains a small rear speaker that sounds like your average cell phone speaker. Unfortunately, the Beats Audio only comes into play when hooking speakers or headphones into the headphone jack.

Droid DNA: Camera and flash, and notification light

The Droid DNA sports an 8MP rear camera that, sadly, requires a bit of tweaking to produce solid images if not in the most optimal lighting situations. Indoors, this phone takes good pictures, so long as good lighting is present; however, outdoors is a different story: washed-out pictures, wonky focus issues, and more. You'll be taking numerous pictures with this camera before finally figuring out the optimal settings in various environments.

In the next picture, you can see the notification light more clearly. In this image, it looks like a dark, blurry dot to the left of the lense, about half-way to the edge of the phone. It seems kind of pointless to me, since I don't fancy laying my phone on its front (save for taking photos of it, that is).

Droid DNA: Front-facing camera

The front-facing camera does quite well when it comes to video chatting applications, and it may well suffice for those of you looking to snap quick self-portraits. Save for those scenarios, its quality -- high as it may technically be (1080p) -- is nothing particularly special. It gets the job done, but it will probably go underutilized, as many front-facing cameras on Android phones seem to. (Android seriously needs its own version of Facetime, but I digress.)

Droid DNA: Back, home, and recent apps

The 3 buttons we're given to use are "back," "home," and "recent apps." Pretty standard at this point, and certainly logical, from a usability standpoint. Also a common feature, the phone vibrates upon pressing any of them.

Droid DNA: Comparison with HTC Thunderbolt, 2

The Droid DNA is considerably thinner than the HTC Thunderbolt, as you can see. Unfortunately, the DNA doesn't come with a kickstand -- one of my absolute favorite features of the Thunderbolt. Also, the Thunderbolt above (my personal former phone) has a double-capacity battery installed with a back that juts out considerably more than a stock Thunderbolt. Even with that out of the equation, the DNA is much thinner.

Droid DNA: Home screen

This is the home screen of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean on the Droid DNA. It looks quite nice and the screen is lush, bright, and crisp. It's easily the best-looking screen I've ever seen on a phone, but really no better-looking than the Retina display on my iPad. As such, this phone didn't "wow" me as much as it would have had I never seen a screen with such crisp text and images before. With that said, the Droid DNA's screen is certainly nothing short of stellar.

HTC Droid DNA hands-on gallery

If you're curious about the Droid DNA, here are some hands-on shots showcasing just about every angle of the phone. Make sure to read the accompanying review, linked to just below each image description throughout the gallery!

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Droid DNA: Volume button

On the left-hand side of the picture above, you can see the volume button clearly jutting out from the phone's body. Many have complained about the button being too flush with the body of the phone, but that's simply not the case.